St.Mary's Coll - 27 Clongowes - 14They may not have quite scaled the heights of the first-round defeat of defending champions Terenure, but at Donnybrook yesterday St Mary's College offered enough cameos of their undoubted ability to secure a quarter-final berth relatively comfortably.
Clongowes, demonstrating their traditional virtues of character and commitment, never accepted defeat. Their forwards in particular threw down the gauntlet to their opponents physically from the first whistle, but the side did not possess the same class or talent behind the scrum: the backs lacked composure and indulged in some wayward passing.
St Mary's also over elaborated behind the scrum, complicating midfield switches with an abundance of runners that cluttered the space they were trying to create. Simon Gibney had a fine game at scrumhalf but his halfback partner, Joey Connolly lacked the assurance and measured distribution of the last day.
Fortunately for the Rathmines school, they possess in left wing Ronan Doherty a very gifted runner and he created havoc whenever he touched the ball. He scored two tries, taking his total to four in two games. However this over reliance on Doherty didn't help the team or the individual.
They suffered to a greater degree from the erratic refereeing of Paul Clinch; the players were not the only ones baffled by his decisions.
The winners were the first to score on 10 minutes, outhalf Connolly doing extremely well to pinch a ball at a ruck on the Clongowes 10-metre line. The ball was moved to the short side and Doherty bounced Robert Kearney in the tackle before racing in from 30 metres. Centre Michael Finlay kicked the conversion.
A penalty from Clongowes' excellent scrumhalf David Connellan left the interval scoreline at 7-3.
St Mary's appeared to wrap up the match with a brace of tries in the first 17 minutes of the second half. The first came following an orthodox back-line movement, culminating in right wing James Clarke crossing in the corner, the second a marvellous solo effort from hooker Ollie McCormack, complete with two neat side-steps.
Finlay failed with both conversions before Clongowes mounted a response. Connellan kicked two penalties from three opportunities to reduce the deficit to 17-9. Finlay kicked a penalty on 67 minutes and Doherty crossed for his second try in injury time which the centre converted to ease them to a 27-9 lead.
There was still time for a try from Clongowes' replacement wing John Connolly and the amazing sight of St Mary's bringing on their entire bench three minutes into injury-time. SCORING SEQUENCE - 10 mins: Doherty try, Finlay conversion, 7-0; 14: Connellan penalty, 7-3. Half-time: 7-3. 38: Clarke try, 12-3; 48: McCormack try, 17-3; 55: Connellan penalty, 17-6; 56: Connellan penalty, 17-9; 67: Finlay penalty, 20-9; 71: Doherty try, Finlay conversion, 27-9; 73: Connolly try, 27-14.
ST MARY'S: S Grissing; J Clarke, M Ryan (Capt), M Finlay, R Doherty; J Connolly, S Gibney; C O'Byrne, O McCormack, R Sweeney, N Conway, F O'Sullivan, J Ryan, R Timmons, P Nash. Replacements: J Sexton for Grissing (73 mins); I O'Herlihy for Connolly (73) ; B Smith for Conway (73); D McNally for Sweeney; G Roche for Finlay (73); M Houlihan for McCormack (73); B Higgins for O'Byrne (73).
CLONGOWES: J O'Reilly; R Kearney, M Hickey-Crowe, D Sharkey, M Regan; C Finnane, D Connellan; C Deane, R Gallagher, P Walsh, T Fox, M Mahony, A Houlihan (capt), R Fagan, G Murphy. Replacements: G Moran for Deane (26 mins); C Clancy for Fox (53); S Flynn for Mahony (64); H Fitzgerald for Kearney (70); C Brennan for Finnane (70); J Connolly for Regan (71).
Referee: P Clinch (Leinster).
